Interview with James Siminoff, Chief Inventor of Edison Junior and Designer of POP

I was intrigued earlier this week by POP - The Intersection of Charging and Design, and what happened with the Kickstarter project. So I contacted the team and got in chat with the chief inventor, James Siminoff. Read on for the full interview.

What do you and your company do? Who's on your team?
We are a design laboratory. Our focus is on the intersection of consumer products and the internet. We have a mixture of programmers, designers and inventors.

How long have you been doing this and just how young are you?
I've been building sh*t since I was a kid, I am now 36 years old.

You recently came out with a new project called the Point of Power 'POP', can you tell us more about it?
POP is around the concept that our homes have a large number of mobile devices, iPhones, Androids, tablets, etc. And charging has become a real issue. With POP we wanted to create a central charging station that looked great and could charge all of your devices in one place. We added a huge battery to it so that you could take it outside, or wherever you need power. Also in cases like hurricane Sandy POP gives you a huge amount of battery to keep charging off of if the power goes out.

Can you talk us through the design process and how did you manage to fit this mammoth 26,000 mAh battery inside?
We designed around 3 things. Large battery, retractable cord reels and had to be a a design that would look good in the home. After a lot of iterations we came to the design that you see today

How does it differ from other chargers available on the market?
We have the largest battery, no one else has retractable cord reels and we also deliver 2.1 amps out of each outlet, most chargers share the amps and as you plug in more devices lower their speed. Also unlike every other charger our looks awesome.

How did the idea of 'POP' come into existence?
I was at a hotel pool watching people (including myself) take their phones and tablets back and forth from the pool to their rooms to charge. I wanted something that would look nice at the pool and could charge multiple devices. From there the idea blossomed.

After not only reaching your goal of $50,000 through Kickstarter but almost tripling it, what were some of the words you used to describe your excitement for a successful launch?
It is incredible, the money is great but knowing that people want your product and design is euphoric.

One of your updates included that you'll now be issuing full refunds for 'POP'. This has been said to be the "largest Kickstarter refund," can you describe why this happened?
Apple told us that we could not include the Lighting adapter on the product. So we decided rather then compromising on the product we decided to do the refund.

Were you and your team just going to give up after's Apple's disapproval and why did you need Apple's approval?
Yes, because continuing would change the concept of the product that we were very passionate about. The world has enough sh*tty products we did not want to produce another one. Apple's approval was needed to use the Lightning adapter, which we told our backers we would provide.

Why did you feel that you had to include preset cables and not just offer USB ports and let the users choose? Would this have ended this ordeal from the start?
We could have done that but those cables would be all over the table and look like crap. Also there are other chargers that have USB's on them, we would rather not produce then to make something we are not passionate about and excited with.

Three days later you came back with another update "and we're back...", can you tell us what happened there?
It was a incredible turn of events but Apple changed their guidelines based on the pressure that all of the press we got put on them. Very unexpected.

'POP' made a lot steam, why do you think Apple suddenly changed their policy?
It is 100% due to what happened with POP, they directly responded to our issues.

Do you think we need a major breakthrough in battery technology? Smartphones and tablets seem to last less and less?
This is a much bigger issues but yes would be great if battery technology had a giant leap, however that does not seem to be happening anytime soon.

What sort of products do you hope to launch soon? Perhaps an black 'POP' model or even an iPhone 'POP' case?
We have a future line of POP products, the next one will be released in the spring of 2013.

Are you a Mac or PC?
Mac.

Would you do this all over again? If so, what would you do differently?
Yes I would, even if Apple had not changed their guidelines. The world is difficult and the only way you can do anything is to put yourself out there. Sometimes that gets you run over and sometimes it works out, with POP we had both

POP can now be pre-ordered for now for the POP Portable at $159 or POP Station for $99 while an extra $20 will make your POP unique with a custom logo. Both models can charge up to four devices at once at will be shipping in March. http://popportablepower.com/

I'd like to thank Jamie and his team for taking this opportunity to speak with me and for allowing me to publish this.

Ok, thanks just seen they pay Apple a license fee to use their cable, shame on you Apple.

Only problem for me is that its too pricey, $99 plus $15 shipping charge is quite steep, especially considering I wouldn't require the battery as it would just be a charging station in my room. Probably other products out their but as said in the interview a lot of them look like sh*t